1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a selective calling receiver and, more particularly, to a selective calling receiver capable of providing a message by a speech sound.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
Recently, selective calling receivers, well known as "pocket telephone bell" or the like, have been widely used. Selective calling receivers are designed to be always carried by individuals and signaled by a selective call signal in an urgent case. Some of the selective calling receivers are designed to display a message (e.g., telephone number of a calling party), contained in a received selective call signal, on a liquid crystal display. Selective calling receivers with a function to provide a message by speech sound instead of displaying it, have been developed (e.g., Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-5931 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-9163).
A box-type or card-type selective calling receiver has a sufficient space for displaying a message and therefore the message can be notified by performing only a display without a speech sound. In, for example, a pencil type selective calling receiver, however, since a sufficient space for displaying a message cannot be ensured, the only means of notifying the message is to output it by a speech sound. In case a visually handicapped person uses a selective calling receiver, a function of outputting the message by the speech sound is important regardless of the shape of the selective calling receiver.
In a conventional selective calling receiver of this type, a message can be repeatedly outputted by the speech sound a several times upon switching operation or the like.
Such a conventional selective calling receiver, however, is designed to repeatedly output one message as a unit by a speech sound. For this reason, a user may fail to hear a part of one message or may not remember the message if it is long. Assume that a telephone number to be dialed is notified. In this case, even if the telephone number is continuously outputted by a speech sound, the user may fail to hear one of the digits of the telephone number. In addition, assume that the user dials a telephone number while hearing a speech message. In this case, if the dialing operation cannot catch up with the speed of the speech message, the user cannot dial the telephone number in the end. That is, a problem is posed in terms of convenience in using such a selective calling receiver.